What's Going On?

Years ago, when I was a salesperson working for a small distributor in Virginia, I had a line of products that was really hot. Everywhere I went, the line was selling like crazy. I even attempted to sell the product to a particularly challenging customer.

I told him everything I knew about the product, everything I knew about how his competitors were doing with it, and ultimately why he should carry it as well. But he just wouldn't listen. As he usually did, he shut me up, he shut me out and he shut me down. He just didn't care what I had to say.

I always thought he was kind of dumb when he did this, because he wasn't taking advantage of the unique perspective I had on his business. After all, I visited him and all of his competitors once a month. This put me in a perfect a position to see what was moving and what was not.

I was also a lot younger in those days, and more inclined to “teach a lesson.” So the next time I was in this particular customer's office, I excused myself to the men's room and purposely arranged my order pad so he couldn't miss it. Sitting right on top was a very large order for that hot product, which I had just written for another customer.

Just as I'd hoped, a few minutes after I came back, he said in a soft voice: “You know, I have been thinking and maybe I will buy some of that stuff.”

“I'm sorry,” I answered, “But we're selling so much of that product that we've had to put it on allocation. After you turned me down last time, I gave your allocation to your competitors.”

He looked a bit like Sylvester the Cat when that cigar, once again, exploded in his face.

The next day, I figured the lesson had been learned, so I called and told him that I had gotten his allocation back. After that, he always made extra time to spend with me.

As this story suggests, independent sales representatives have a truly unique vantage point from which to observe their industry. After all, they typically represent a number of lines and call on a variety of customers. Unlike buyers and sales managers, they are constantly moving through the marketplace. Going from store to store, buyer to buyer and manufacturer to manufacturer, they get to see the industry horizontally as well as vertically. They accrue not only a wealth of data, but an understanding of that data that makes the sum far greater than its parts.

Here are a few ways listening to reps can help key players in the gift business:

• Sales Manager. If you're a sales manager, listening to reps can save you from selling to a customer who's not credit worthy. Because reps represent a number of lines, they know earlier than just about anyone else who is and who is not paying on time. Reps frequently know bad credit even before D & B or other credit reporting services.

They also know what licenses are hot. Because they carry a number of lines, reps are often familiar with a broad array of licenses; they're constantly getting buyer reactions to which licenses are hot and which are not.

Finally, sales reps can provide sales managers with a great deal of information about trends. They see fads start, watch them grow and eventually seen them die.

• Buyer. If you're a buyer, a sales rep is in the best position to let you know which products are hot. Typically, there are one or two customers who are early adopters and get on board with a new product before their competitors. Reps can see by their reorders and enthusiasm what is selling.

They can also provide buyers, just like a sales managers, with a great deal of information about licenses. They can tell a buyer anything from which licenses they should be carrying to which ones are underperforming in their stores in comparison to their competition.

Finally, they can inform a buyer about which emerging promotional and merchandising techniques are working.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like sales managers and buyers used to spend more time talking to reps. Sales calls lasted longer and were more leisurely, almost like friends getting together. Not only that, the contact between them continued beyond the office into restaurants and cocktail lounges.

Perhaps because of the press of business and the resulting lack of time, buyers and sales managers spend less time asking sales reps that once-familiar refrain: “What's going on?”

But smart retailers and manufacturers may want to encourage their buyers and sales managers to spend more time with salespeople, even to take them up on those invitations for lunch, or to have a drink after work, or share a leisurely dinner. At least allow for some extra time during or after your next meeting with a sales rep. Think about what information your representative may be able to give you that will improve your competitive positioning. Plan some good questions in advance, listen closely to what they have to say, and you may find out “what's happening.”